The One Amex Card I Decided to Apply For

In light of the news about American Express clamping down on obtaining new account bonuses for products a customer has carried in the past as of May 1, I decided to take a look at my Amex situation. Currently, I carry three Amex cards – two Delta (personal and biz) and the Platinum Card (my card with the longest credit history). There are two card products that carry some interest for me, the Premier Rewards Gold, and the Starwood Preferred Guest card. I have carried both the personal and business versions of the SPG card in the past, but closed them as my card wallet was getting a little crowded.

After a bit of reflection, I decided to apply for the Starwood Preferred Guest personal card. Granted, the current 10K first purchase bonus with 15K more after $5,000 in spending in the first 6 months is not the best deal in history, the fact is that May 1 is almost here. Further, the SPG card is the one card that I’ve had in the past and closed that I wish I’d kept. Thinking longer term, 1:1 airline transfers with the 5K bonus for moving 20K miles is attractive to me, but what is even more important and beneficial are using points for hotel stays, especially cash and points stays. The extra 2 stay/5 night credits toward elite status could become more important as I seek to move more of my hotel business to Starwood this year.

So…. as I close in on meeting minimum spend for the widely blogged about 100K offer from Citi AAdvantage, I’ll have one more project to complete before taking a break from the latest round of miles and points earning exercise. Will the looming changes on May 1 impact your miles/points earning plans in the near term? Did you decided to apply for a card just in case?

Marshall Jackson is an aviation enthusiast and avid cruiser. Throughout high school and college he continued to pursue his dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot obtaining his commercial pilot’s license at age 19. After college Marshall started his professional flying career as a Jetstream, and later Saab first officer with a regional airline. Grounded by Type 1 Diabetes in 1996, Marshall transitioned into operations management at one of the world’s largest airlines performing safety and compliance audits at airline and vendor facilities worldwide. Applying the skills gained in that position, Marshall moved into airport operations management at one of his airline’s busiest airports. After 10 years in the airline business, Marshall moved on to a new career that includes plenty of travel and plenty of cruises, and that’s just the way he likes it.

Not enough time for me to do another churn before 5/1, but getting the wife another SPG like you. If there is REALLY a card that you want for it’s benefits, I would hope that Amex would still give it to you but without the bonus. In some instances that may be alright.

Tony

Be weary if you have any other Amex accounts. I opened an SPG and was given on the 10k on first purchase and denied the 15k because I have another amex card (Blue Cash) though I have never had the SPG. This was just last month. They are really clamping down.

Thanks Tony. I’ll report my results here. I’m fine with it either way…. thinking long term, the SPG card is one I want to keep as long as benefits remain the same.

Kelly

I agree with what Tony said. Both my husband and I are past our 2 year mark with SPG cards being closed. But when we just went to apply we both got the information about not getting bonus if we have ever received in the past.

Also 6 months back I applied for the Blue Cash card. It had a very small sign on bonus but when I tried to apply it said I could not get it because I had other Am Ex products. I got the card anyway, but no sign up bonus.